(AFP) – Gunfire broke out in Mali’s capital on Monday, with troops who took part in last month’s military coup and the guard of the newly installed president exchanging shots, witnesses said.

The shooting in central Bamako followed an attempt by junta loyalists to arrest a member of the presidential guard, witnesses said.

Several people were killed in a gunfight Monday between Mali coup troops and the presidential guard loyal to ousted leader Amadou Toumani Toure at the national TV and radio station, said employees.

“There were deaths” in the gunfight after the presidential guard tried to take back the station, which has been held by rebel soldiers since the March 22 coup, said an employee who asked not to be named, without giving numbers.

The guardsmen, or “Red Berets,” have voiced anger over the arrest of former army chief by soldiers who took part in the March 22 coup that toppled ex-president Amadou Toumani Toure weeks before an election.

The US embassy in Bamako, through its Twitter account, reported the shooting, but did not specify the groups involved.